Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act goes live next month

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Next month, the infamous Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act finally comes into force. Essentially, it allows the courts to jail individuals for up to seven years for saying, writing or posting any comment that is deemed to “stir up hatred” against a protected group, including disability, race, religion and, inevitably, transgender identity.

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While the Bill was making its way through the Scottish Parliament, the then Justice minister, one Humza Yousaf, amended the draft legislation to remove the risk that directors or promoters of performances could be charged with an offence. Despite this, leaked training material produced from Police Scotland suggests the force will specifically target performers, with officers advised that offending material could be communicated “through public performance of a play”.

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Trans activists in particular are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of wreaking revenge on their vocal political opponents. J.K. Rowling was recently reported to Northumbria Police by trans activist India Willoughby after the TV presenter was allegedly “misgendered” by the Harry Potter author, who referred to Willoughby as “he”. Perhaps surprisingly, officers in Northumbria chose not to act, but activists have already been encouraging each other to make full use of the SNP’s new legislation to bring Rowling, who is a resident of Edinburgh, to heel.

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The threshold that complaints must meet is that anything said by the accused would be deemed “by a reasonable person” to be threatening or inciting of hatred. But in today’s culture wars, “reasonable people” are hard to identify. The judgment, ultimately, becomes a subjective one, and any law that hinges on anyone’s, even a judge’s, subjectivity, is a bad law.

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